<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Working too hard by Oceanpineapples</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25164874">Working too hard</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceanpineapples/pseuds/Oceanpineapples'>Oceanpineapples</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>How to train your dragon [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Dead Stoick the Vast, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Post-How to Train Your Dragon 2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:14:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,395</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25164874</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceanpineapples/pseuds/Oceanpineapples</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Stoick's death, Hiccup became chief, but something has gotten into Hiccup that is making chief hard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>How to train your dragon [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1823026</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Working too hard</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Out of writers block so this story might not be as good</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chief was harder than Hiccup had thought. As he was right in the beginning he wasn't ready and it wasn't his thing. </p><p>The first day of being chief felt like be was being crushed by rocks. Hiccup didn't even have time to grieve for his father, the one that died the day before; the new chief didn't even have time to figure out how he would run the village </p><p>It has been a month though and ever since the Viking chief had pretty much ran himself into the ground, slowly and surely digging a 6-foot deep grave for himself. Astrid had tried to make him stop and have a break, maybe calm down a bit and learn how to take it easy... But alas Hiccup was stubborn and with stubbornness comes a set of turned off ears. </p><p>No matter how painful his stump had become, how slow his walking had drastically became, how many bags his eyes had within a month; Hiccup refused to even stop working. It worried his friends, his mother, his dragon and most of the village.</p><p>Toothless wasn't flying anymore, Hiccup refused to feel free.</p><p>Somebody needs to do something </p><p>Trying to impress your long-dead father wasn't going to bring him back... Hiccup was trying to prove himself, hiccup was trying to do the best for the village- but... How can someone do that when their whole month has been skipping important meals, sleeping little at a time and looking at a zombie. Hiccup at this point was a sleep-deprived zombie running a village that was starting to collapse.</p><p>Astrid couldn't handle this anymore, Astrid had seen what a month could do to someone, how quickly someone can drop to their knees in the middle of the village square and slowly get up and claim they were fine when the person really wasn't. She was sick of it and so was the village. </p><p>But Hiccup wouldn't stop.</p><p>It came to the point of frustration and worried thoughts made Astrid and the rest of the friend group had to do something, had to help out, had to actually force Hiccup to go relax and finally get to grieve, get to has some piece. </p><p>Hiccup had to stop digging himself an early grave. </p><p>First, it was Astrid who made the impatient Hiccup sit in the living room, staring at those dead green eyes</p><p>Then it was fishlegs who made Hiccup food and made him eat said food...</p><p>But it didn't work, it didn't change anything- Hiccup- Hiccup was gone at the point. Hiccup was in his own little world. </p><p>And nobody could stop him, not even his mother. That distressed her, that broke her heart. It broke her heart that she was witnessing Hiccup slowly killing himself, slowly losing it, slowly allowing Valhalla to take him. She couldn't see it anymore, she refused to stay in a village with a dying chief so she left, took cloud jumper and ditched Berk. Maybe one day she'll come back. </p><p>Berk was now completely quiet, everyone refused to leave their homes or ask for help, nobody wanted to be a burden to the chief, they needed him to get better and how they did that was giving Hiccup nothing to do, giving him time to think about his dad, giving him time to sleep and heal and get rid of those eye bags....they needed him to put the dirt back in his grave. So Berk stayed quiet until the chief was back. </p><p>Hiccup's emotions to Valka's leaving didn't put much of dent in him, he had a village to run, but maybe it'll come to him...one day </p><p>It took time, maybe a week until Hiccup decided maybe killing himself slowly wasn't the best option, wasn't going to bring back his dad, wasn't going to heal himself; so he sat on his bed, took oof his leg and rubbed it.  For the first time in a while, he felt relaxed and calm, the air finally coming to him and his stump....his stump finally breathing and now only producing little bits of pain. Hiccup realized he didn't need pain any more than he experienced a month before. </p><p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">
      <strong>Relaxed. </strong>
    </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">
      <strong>Tired. </strong>
    </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">
      <strong>Upset </strong>
    </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">
      <strong>At peace. </strong>
    </span>
  </em>
</p><p>The chief slowly laid down on his bed, flat on his back, his head reaching the pillow, his eyes slowly closing. </p><p>This time the sleeping wasn't just a couple of hours, it was full sleep, well-deserved sleep. Hiccup was slowly getting better. </p><p>For the first time in a month there were emotions he forgets he had felt, he forgot the feeling of waking up and feeling refreshed, he forgot the feeling of seeing his friends and feeling happy...but he didn't forget the feeling of grief. Man, he missed his dad. </p><p>But that is what Astrid wanted him to feel, she wanted her fiance to remember his dad, to actually have time to grieve, have time to actually grieve instead of pushing those feelings away.  The hard part of wanting to prove something was over, now it was time to calm down and feel the other emotions. </p><p>Astrid had thought maybe this was time to try and get through to her loved one, to talk sense into him and to make sure that everyone was there for him, that it was ok to ask for help. And that is what she did</p><p>When she opened the front door of Hiccup's house she heard sniffing, she heard genuine emotion. She walked in, feeling relieved that he was crying instead of that numb feeling. Walked closer to the sound and sat next to the crying man who sat very close to the crackling fire, while toothless kept an eye on his friend and at Astrid. "Hiccup... It's ok to cry."</p><p>Hiccup rubbed his eyes, mouth agape with sobs and misery. "I know... I was just so focused on making sure the village had everything that I didn't even have time to grieve, to feel hurt... I let everyone down by making everything even worse, mom left, the village hates me... I- i-" The 20-year-old boy sobbed harder. He knew what he did wrong.... But the thing is how was he going to fix this?</p><p>Astrid's hand slowly jumped onto Hiccup's back, showing that she understood the emotion and the sad part of losing someone. "Yes, I know." She glanced at toothless. " But it's ok to ask for help when you're going through a difficult time- just because you're a Viking doesn't mean you should hide your feelings or throw yourself into an early grave. Hiccup we care about you! We want to help, we want to get through this together... I-I don't want to lose you, the village doesn't want to either... " She looked away, her hands rubbing Hiccup's back. "Valka will be back and I guarantee it... The village honestly is worried, they understand what you've been through, they also want to help. Let them help." </p><p>Hiccup's face stayed glued to the fire, his elbows rested on his lap. The first time in a while words were actually getting to him and they actually made sense. Words that made him feel somewhat less stressed and more willing to fix the mess that he made- and he that is what he was willing to do. </p><p>It took a couple of days, to be honest, the town crawled out of their homes and went back to normal after they heard the news of Hiccup being better. Hiccup relaxed a few more days, slept more trying to get back a month worth of sleep, and then when he wasn't sleeping he was drawing, trying to relax. </p><p>Eventually, though he made it back into the village and slowly and surely helped out, getting smiles and cheers whenever he showed up. </p><p>Astrid had split the group up and made everyone help out one part of Hiccup's duties in a desperate attempt to get Hiccup less stressed... It helped </p><p>Toothless got his afternoon flying session too, which by all means had made him excited like a dog whenever their owner came home. </p><p>Valka came back too, thankful that her son wasn't dying. </p><p>And yes, Hiccup missed his dad still, but who wouldn't? </p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Hiccup was </span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Happy</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Relaxed</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">No longer sore.</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">No longer on the verge of death</span>
  </strong>
</p><p><br/>
Hiccup was slowly and surely getting back to normal, but with grief there's time. </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>